Corpse Flower
by gamergalexey
Summary: Sometimes the only way to survive is with the help of the enemy. Even if that enemy is a creature of Grimm. (This is a Ruby Grimm fanfiction. Hope you enjoy)
1. Chapter 1

Info note: A corpse flower is a parasitic flower found in the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia.

Chapter 1

Ruby ran through the forest the beowolves at her heels screeching and howling. She was seven and had decided to go with her older sister Yang to find Yang's mom. Yang had found an old map in the house that lead somewhere in the forest. Which Yang believed to be where her mom was. So the two girls snuck out when their father wasn't looking to go find where the map led. When they had reached the house there was only growling beowolves to greet them. That is how Ruby got in her current predicament being chased by beowolves through the darkening forest. Ruby didn't know where Yang had gone she had lost her in her own frantic escape.

 _ **AOOOOOO!**_

The beowolves let out another spine chilling screech spurring Ruby to run even faster. Ruby ran through the dark forest blurred by her tears. She was going to die Ruby thought to herself. She was never going to see Yang, dad, Uncle Crow ever again.

" _I smell your despair little one"_

The voice caught Ruby off guard causing the young girl to trip on a gnarled tree root. Ruby tumbled down a hill banging her head on a rock knocking her out.

The dark creature moved through the trees towards the young unconscious child. It would not be the creatures first choice, but it would have to do. The creature needed to be quick about it before it loses the child to the beowolves.

* * *

Ruby woke up her head throbbing. Where was she? What happened? She looked around at her surroundings. She was in a forest clearing with a large lake in the middle lit by moonlight.

 _Oh awake are you?_

Ruby's head shot around looking for the voice. Who was there?

 _You can't see what's in your mind child._

In her mind? What was… Ruby groaned she couldn't think with her head throbbing like this.

 _Go to the lake then I can explain better._

Ruby scrapped herself off the ground groaning making herself to the lake. Ruby looked at her reflection in the lake. She looked exactly the same except the wolf like grimm mask covering the upper half of her face. "What happened?"

 _What happened was that I saved your life._

"What are you?"

 _I am what you humans call a creature of grimm. More specifically I'm categorized as a parasitic grimm._

"Parasitic Grimm?" Ruby had never heard of one of those.

 _It's not surprising I'm the last one the others all got themselves killed._

"Got themselves killed?"

 _Yes unlike the the others instead of taking over their hosts and hunting down other humans I chose to study them. With the knowledge I was able to gather from my hosts I surpassed all my brethren and survive._

"So what do you want from me?" Ruby asked.

 _Simple in exchange for saving your life you'll serve as my host_

Ruby traced her finger along the grimm mask… her grimm mask. "There's just one thing I don't get."

 _What is that?_

"Why didn't you just take my body like you said you could?"

 _Ahh well you see if I were to take over your body that mask you are currently wearing would not be removable. You see if a parasitic grimm take full control of the body of its host then their grimm mask becomes unremovable making it impossible to blend in. So if I take on a more… symbiotic roll then you will be able to remove the mask and we would not be hunted like animals._

Ruby brought her hand to the edges of her mask and gently removed it. Beneath was her silver eyes, but they looked different. Ruby's eyes looked more feline her pupils were sharp slits and the silver of her eyes seemed to flow like quicksilver.

 _Though even if you were to throw away that mask it would just come back. Most likely at a bad time so you should keep it close._

Ruby looked closer at her mask to see the distinct wolf like features. It looked like the top half of a wolf's skull with two large canine teeth protruding from the bottom. Speaking of canines Ruby noticed something strange with her teeth. Crouching down to get a closer look at herself in the lake's reflection. All of Ruby's teeth looked to be canines. It also seemed that the shadows around Ruby were… thicker, but Ruby just shook her head. Her mind was just playing tricks on her.

 _Yes there are a few… side effects of becoming my host, but nothing terrible I'm sure you'll deal with it. Actually I believe there is a race of people who look quite similar to you fanus I believe they were called._

"So I guess we should get going, Yang and Dad are probably worried sick." Ruby said stuffing her mask into her jacket pocket and walking away from the lake. "Do you know where my house is?" Ruby asked her new guest.

 _I do not believe so I only know as much as your mind remembers. Though I do know where the nearest city is. That would be the best place to go for now. Especially since I just aquired a new host and don't fancy her dying of hunger so soon._

Ruby's stomach growled in response. "Eh he I guess you're right." Ruby walked into the moonlit forest. "By the way what should I call you?"

 _Just call me Surrex_

* * *

It was mid morning when Ruby finally made it to the city. It was called Storm City named after the ocean storms that were common. Ruby's stomach growled from the scent of the cafes serving brunch.

"You probably don't have any money huh." Ruby asked

 _What do you think?_

"Yeah that's what I thought" Ruby groaned. "We gotta get home quick so dad can make us the biggest breakfast ever!" Ruby said practically drooling. "Though I'm not sure how I'll explain my new look to him." Ruby walked along the city streets looking for a police station so she could get home. A few blocks over Ruby finally found a police station. She entered walking up to the front desk.

"Hello!" She chimed cheerfully. The man at the front desk whom had a gentle smile looked down at her.

"Hello little girl do you need something?" He asked in a calm voice.

"Yes please." Ruby said politely "I was wondering if you could help me get home."

The officer looked at her thoughtfully "Of course what's you're name."

"My name is Ruby Rose mister."

The officer eyebrows went up at that "Well Ruby your father Taiyang has already notified us about you going missing. Just give me a few moments while I file the report and we'll get you home. Ok?"

Ruby shook her head "Yes thank you!" Ruby watched the officer walk off.

 _Did that man say Taiyang!? the Surrex hissed_

"Yeah why?"

 _The hunter!_

"Yup he's my dad and he's super cool!"

 _We have to leave now!_

"Why?"

 _Why!? Because he's a hunter and hunters kill grimm like me… and you._

"But dad has never hurt me. Why would he now?"

 _Because now you're part grimm he'll only see you as a monster now._

"Wha! No he…" Ruby was cut off by Surrex

 _Yes he will! Hunters are sworn to protect the peace at all costs and that means killing grimm like us. It has happened before and it will again._

Ruby's hands trembled. Her dad would never do that! Would he?

 _Go! Run! We'll need the head start._

Before Ruby could even realise it she was running out of the police station. Her heart was pounding like when she was running from the beowolves. Tears streaming down her face she was scared. Scared that her own father was coming to hurt her.

* * *

Taiyang burst into the police station Yang just behind him.

"Where is she!" He asks frantically.

The man at the front desk addressed him in a solemn tone. "I'm sorry sir she was here, but suddenly ran out of the station and we have not been able to find her."

Taiyang was already halfway out the door "Don't worry Ruby I'm coming for you."

* * *

 **Eight years later**

Yang stood on the launch platform on top of the cliff where their Beacon initiation would begin. She looked at the other new students including Pyrrha Nikos the ever popular fighter, Weiss Schnee the stuck up heiress, and a girl name Blake Belladonna who seemed really good at pissing of the heiress. Yang smiled to herself this was going to be interesting.

Weiss walked through the forest in which she was supposed to find a relic. As she stumbled into a clearing she saw a girl with blood red hair dressed in ragged clothes. Weiss didn't recognize her. Did she miss the opening ceremony? Weiss doubted she would have missed such a ragged looking person. It even looked like she didn't have a weapon.

"Hey!" Weiss yelled. The tensed and seemed to tuck something away before turning to look at her.

"Umm… Hello." She said awkwardly. As Weiss got closer to her she saw that the girl was young a little too young. Weiss also saw her feline like eyes. Great Weiss thought my partner's going to be fanus that hates me.

"Come on let's go we have a lot of ground to cover." Weiss said motioning towards where she suspected the relics were.

"I think there might be a mistake here." The red headed girl said. Weiss sighed she had no time for this. She grabbed the hood of the girls jacket and started dragging her along.

"Now's not the time to be getting cold feet." Weiss chided the girl "You want to become a huntress don't you?"

* * *

"What do you mean she's not a student!" Weiss yelled at Beacon's headmaster Professor Ozpin.

"Well I'm not sure why she was there, but the young girl who you retrieved the relic with is not a student at Beacon." Ozpin said calmly. Weiss groaned. What was she going to do! That girl who was skilled enough to fight grimm with only a butterfly knife isn't a student at Beacon!

* * *

Ruby sat in a waiting room in the heart of Beacon flipping her knife around nervously. This is bad she thought to herself.

 _That's an understatement._

"I don't need you patronizing me Surrex!" Ruby practically growled at the grimm.

 _So what's the plan to…_

Surrex was cut off by the opening of the door. A blonde woman walked in who looked extremely annoyed.

"Come with me Professor Ozpin would like to talk to you." Before Ruby could respond she was already on her way out.

 _Don't follow her get out of here._

"But the Professor Ozpin wants to talk to me! I have to at least see what he's like!" Ruby said chasing after the blonde woman.

 _You're going to get us killed._

"Oh come on I'm like sixty-seven percent sure we can get out of her if things get hairy."

 _Sixty-seven._

"Yeah I mean it's over half and that's good." Before Surrex could respond they were entering the Professor's office.

"Hello" Professor Ozpin said soothingly "Please have a seat." Ruby awkwardly sat in front of the Professor. "I have to say Ms. Rose I am very surprised to see you here of all places."

 _I told you. You should have bolted when you had the chance._

"You've been missing for eight years and no one has seen hide nor hair of you. Then you suddenly show up in the Beacon initiation out of the blue. Not to mention that you are looking distinctly… fanus."

"Eh he… well you know… hormones… eh he…" Ruby's hands were sweating now.

 _Really? Hormones?_

"Oh shut up." Ruby muttered.

"Excuse me?" Ozpin asked.

"Oh! nothing! I was just uh… talking to myself."

"So here is my delema Ms. Rose. You caused quite the mess in Beacon's new student team formation. There is now one team that is short a member unless you are willing to fill in the role."

"What! Me!" Ruby said in surprise.

"Yes Ms. Rose even though you did not. Well that I know of go to a training school, yet showed exemplary talent. And I for one think you would make a great addition to the school." Ozpin said with a smile.

"Well… I…" Ruby was still in shock.

 _Don't you dare._

"I'll do it!"


	2. Chapter 2

Story note: Due to confusion Surrex's words will now be in bold and Ruby's thoughts/conversations with surrex will be in italics. Italics in quotes = Ruby mumbling to Surrex.

Chapter 2

Ruby sat in another waiting room while Professor Ozpin made the necessary paperwork to get her into Beacon.

 _ **What were you thinking! You're going to get us killed! Surrex hissed.**_

" _Oh come on you're always talking about blending in. This is the perfect place to do so! Like hiding in plain sight." Ruby said._

 _ **No it's not! It's the perfect place to be killed!**_

" _Nope you played that card eight years ago with my dad and I'm not falling for it again."_

 _ **He would have killed us.**_

" _We could have at least tried to talk to him."_

 _ **It's kinda hard to talk when there's a sword through your…**_

Surrex was cut of as the door opened and a group of five made their way in. Professor Ozpin, the blonde women she learned was Professor Goodwitch, a white haired girl, a black haired girl, and... Yang! Ruby's hand immediately shot up to pull up her hood. She would have been able to play off her eyes and teeth by lying about being fanus, but not with Yang. _Ruby was really regretting her hasty decision_.

 _ **Told you so.**_

" _Shut up!"_ Ruby hissed.

"Um Ms. Rose?" Ozpin asked looking a little concerned.

"Oh! Um… I Uh…" Ruby stuttered.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled while barreling towards her. Ruby started to panic, but before she could find a quick escape Yang was already tackling her into a hug. "Ruby I can't believe it's you! Where have you been! What happened to you! We have to call dad!"

"Uh… sis! Choking!" Ruby gasped through Yang's crushing hug.

"Oh! Sorry!" Yang gasped dropping Ruby. Ruby coughed from her lack of oxygen.

"Thanks… for not killing me sis. I saw the light just a little more and I would have been gone."

"Oh come one Ruby! It wasn't that bad!" Yang said cheerfully.

"Ehem!" the white haired girl interrupted the family reunion. "Do you mind filling us in or are you two dimwits going to play around all day."

 _ **She's a charmer isn't she**_

" _I can see that."_ Ruby laughed to herself.

"What are you laughing at!" the white haired girl groaned. "I should have known you'd be a brat. You're too young to be here."

"Well excuse me princess, but last time I checked I saved you back in the forest." Ruby said mockingly.

"Why you!"

"Now now let's calm down you'll be a team after all." Ozpin said trying to calm the girls. "Allow me to introduce you to each other. This young lady is Weiss Schnee, The young Ms. with the bow is Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long seems to already left an impression, and Ms. Ruby Rose the girl clad in red. Together you four will form team RWBY lead by Ms. Rose."

"What!" Weiss yelled. "Why is she the leader! She's clearly unqualified to lead a team!"

 _ **Oh this is going to be interesting eh?**_

After a long "argument" that consisted of Weiss yelling about Ruby's incompetence, Weiss's anger finally died down and she grudgingly conceded to her new team leader. The group moved their way to their dorms chatting along the way.

"So Ruby where have you been for the past eight years!" Yang fawned over little sister. "We've got to get you back home to see dad! Or maybe not he may burst into tears when he sees you." Yang continued to chatter excitedly.

"Can I ask something" Blake interrupted Yang. Blake turned to look at Ruby. "Why are you hiding behind your hood?"

 _ **She gets right to the point doesn't she?**_

"W-Well y-you know… this and that… eh he." Ruby mumbled trying to stall for time.

"Yeah why are you still wearing that hood Rubes?" Yang chimed in.

"Um the thing is… Hey! Look it's our dorm let's go check it out!" Ruby called while retreating into the room. The four girls entered the basic dorm room with four beds, dressers, desks, and an adjoining bathroom.

"W-Wow would you look at that! It's pretty nice isn't it eh he…" Ruby's mind was going at thousand miles an hour. _What could be an excuse to her physical changes? A disease? A natural mutation? Some unknown power?_

 _ **The mass collection of stupidity?**_

" _Oh shut up."_

"What?" The other three girls said in unison.

"Oh! Nothing just uh… talking to myself." Ruby said laughing it off. Ruby moved around the room looking around trying to act busy.

"You know Rubes you still didn't answer our question." Ruby looked to see Yang creeping towards her with her arms reached outward. _This wasn't going to end well._ Yang pounced on Ruby going for her hood laughing maniacally.

"No! Yang wait!" Ruby yelped as she went down with a thud tackled by Yang.

"You're not getting out of…" Yang stopped mid sentence as she stared into Ruby's animalistic flowing silver eyes. "Ruby… what…" Ruby was panicking at this point. She needed an excuse and fast.

"So… you are fanus?" Blake broke the silence.

 _Perfect a distraction!_

 _ **Like that'll help.**_

 _Oh shut up and help me think!_

"You two didn't know?" Weiss questioned "when we met in the forest I saw that she was. Why were you trying to hide it from these two Ruby?"

"Maybe she felt threatened by someone." Blake said accusingly.

"Excuse me!"

"Well it is a well known fact how the Schnee Dust Company feels towards fanus. Maybe she didn't want those feelings directed towards her."

"Why you! She didn't hide from me she hid from you two."

"Perhaps it was simply she didn't recognize you at first."

"Hey! Things are getting tense so… why don't we take some time to cool off. Ok? Everyone can go their separate ways for now think about what's happened and we can possibly not kill each sound good?" Ruby asked… well more pleaded, but same thing. The heiress and Blake grudgingly agreed and Yang seemed to be in a far of place of thought. So the heiress stormed off first with Blake leaving shortly after, but in the other direction. Ruby had to wriggle free of Yang's grip to try and make a hasty escape.

"Ruby wait! what?" Yang called out still in a daze. Ruby guess that her sudden appearance and physical changes were just a little too much for the over protective sister.

"Just hang out here Yang I'll explain when everyone's back. Ok?"

"Yeah… Ok." Yang said recovering from her daze.

Ruby closed the door and let out a long sigh.

 _ **Why did you stop their fighting? Their anger was delicious and we haven't feed in a while. It would have proven beneficial to us.**_

" _Because I can't have my… our team tearing itself apart on the first day"_

Ruby sprinted down the halls of Beacon at full speed. _Library! Library! Where's the Library!_

 _ **Going to go look for an excuse?**_

" _What do you think!"_

Ruby made a sharp turn at the end of the hall promptly smashing into a blond haired boy. She shot back up her adrenaline still pumping.

"Oh! I'm so sorry I was in a rush and well…" Ruby apologized while helping the boy up.

"It's alright it's not the worst thing that's happened to me." The blond boy replied.

"Well I'm really sorry, but I've got something really important to do so I'll make it up to you some other time." Ruby called already disappearing down the halls. A few minutes of top speed running Ruby crashed through the library's doors. Stumbling she made her way to one of the computers breathing hard. _Ok now all I need to do is…_

"Ruby?" a voice called. _What now!_ Ruby turned around to see Blake.

"Oh h-hey Blake… h-how's it going?" _I can't catch a break today._

"What are you doing here?' Blake asked taking a seat next to her.

"Oh you know just… browsing."

"You came here in quite a rush"

"Well I was just uh, excited. Yeah... excited"

"What's bothering you Ruby? Does it have to do with your fanus heritage?" Blake asked seemingly genuinely concerned.

"Well you see I may possibly have not been born like this…" Blake's eyebrow went up.

"So you mean you had late acting genes?"

"What?"

 _ **That doesn't even sound like a real thing.**_

'Late acting genes" Blake began "there when you have distant fanus relatives and have a few fanus genes. It's pretty rare, but sometimes those genes activate later in life."

"Uh yeah that's exactly what I have and I was just having a hard time explaining to Yang. Yup that's it. Totally. One hundred percent."

 _ **This is the most convenient turn of event we've had in awhile.**_

 _I know right!_

"Thanks Blake you really helped me out!" Ruby told Blake as she hugged her.

"I-I um…" Blake was clearly flustered "you're welcome."

"I'll see you in a little!" Ruby called running off before Blake could respond.

A few hours later and a very tense and awkward conversation in the girl's dorm room everything was sorted out.

"Wow Rubes I would've never guessed something like that ran in the family." Yang talked while plopping onto her bed.

"W-Well it probably comes from my mom's side Yang."

"Eh you're probably right." Yang laughed "I'm glad we cleared that up, but…" Yang looked over at Weiss and Blake. "Things are still tense."

 _ **You should have them fight it out.**_

" _You should shut up."_

"Ruby?" Yang turned away from the others to look at her.

"Oh I was just uh… Yeah we should find a way to distract them."

"I'll take the heiress. I think it would just add fuel to the fire if you went with her." Yang got and walked over to Weiss.

"What are you!" Before Weiss could move Yang was already throwing Weiss over her shoulder.

"Come on princess let's go before you two start a catfight."

"What! let me down! I swear I'm gonna…" Weiss's yelling echoed down the hallway.

"What was that about?" Blake asked.

"Well you two seemed at each other's throats so Yang and I thought we should split you up for now. Though I didn't expect her to do that."

"You two are really strange. You know that?"

 _Eh more like the three of us._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ruby sat in Beacon's workshop putting the final touches on her makeshift weapon. Since she would be surrounded by hunters and huntresses she would have change her somewhat occult fighting style. For now it was a simple weapon. It was not as advanced as the others, but it would work for now. A scythe that could collapse for easy storage. Ruby had plans to add some sort of rifle to it, but it would do for now.

 _ **Can I ask something?**_

" _What?" Ruby asked sharpening the blade._

 _ **Why'd to pick a scythe when we can mimic any fighting style?**_

" _Hmm… I don't know. I just thought it would be cool."_

 _ **Are you sure it wasn't because with a scythe you would be a… grimm reaper. Surrex said chuckling.**_

" _You know…" Ruby said while reaching over for a handgun she had obtained for an earlier idea before settling on her scythe. "I could just end it… just end this suffering known as life for the both of us."_

 _ **Woah wait! I didn't mean it! I'm sorry I take it back!**_

Ruby burst out laughing "Oh man! You actually thought I was serious! You're an idiot!"

"Ruby?" came a voice from behind her. Ruby spun around to see Weiss walking towards her. "Who are you talking to?"

"Oh! I was uh talking to uh myself…" Ruby coughed "Anyways! What are you doing here?"

Weiss's confused face immediately turned into a scowl. "I came here to get you to do your homework. Since you didn't go to a training school before hand it is imperative that you learn everything you missed." Weiss droned on about the importance of Ruby's homework.

 _ **Does this girl ever shut up!? Do… Do you think we could run for it?**_

 _I mean it's worth a shot._

Ruby launched out of her chair making a break for it. With an unnatural amount of speed Weiss's hand shot out and grabbed Ruby's shirt collar.

"Where do you think you're going." Weiss said in a tone that would have scared away an ursa.

"I uh… I was just so excited and inspired by your words… I was running back to our room so I could work on my homework.

"Well it's good you're showing initiative. Here I'll walk you back." Weiss said practically dragging Ruby back to their room.

Ruby's eyelids felt heavy as she stumbled through Forever Fall forest. She had been forced to stay up late by Weiss to finish her mountain of work. Since Ruby didn't go to another hunter training school such as Signal. She was given a mountain of work to make up and under the wrathful gaze of Weiss it was finished in one night. Which was the cause of Ruby's current corpse like state. Ruby gazed over at her group. There was of course Weiss, Blake, and Yang. There was also the members of team JNPR who they had become fast friends with. Ruby yawned and looked back over to Weiss who seemed completely unaffected by the lack of sleep.

 _ **Yeesh and people call me a monster. That thing was terrifying.**_

" _You can say that again."_

"Ruby!" Weiss scolded "what are mumbling about?"

"Oh! Nothing I just…"

"Oh lay off Ice Queen. You kept her up all night and if I know Ruby she's probably delirious from sleep loss by now." Yang cut in throwing her arm around Ruby. "How about after this we get you some…" Yang stopped as Professor Goodwitch turned to address the class.

"Quiet children this is no leisure walk in the forest. We are here to collect important sap samples from these trees to study its peculiar nature. Now come get your tools and get to it and remember that this sap's unique scent and taste lures grimm. So exercise caution when collecting it."

Ruby sat on a sturdy tree branch her back resting on the trunk. She had snuck away from Weiss to take a quick nap, since Weiss had kept her up all night. Just as she started to drift she was startled by a scream. Startled from drowsing stupor Ruby lost her balance and quickly was embraced by the weightlessness of falling, which was promptly broken as Ruby hit the ground.

 _ **Good going genius.**_

" _Oh shut up"_ Ruby mumbled as she headed towards the sound of the scream. Ruby stumbled into a clearing still half asleep, just in time to see Jaune mid fight with a large ursa. She made her way to Pyrrha and Weiss who were watching from a distance.

"Hey what's going on?" Ruby called out to them.

 _ **What does it look like? Sir doofus is going to get himself ripped apart by an ursa.**_

Ignoring Surrex Ruby continued to watch Jaune hold his ground against the ursa. Ruby was genuinely surprised of Jaune's increase of the skill since the first day. Until when Jaune went for a jab at the ursa his guard dropped and the ursa's massive clawed paw came at Jaune.

 _ **Well he had a good run. May he rest in peace.**_

At the last second Jaune's shield shot up and blocked the ursa's attack. Ruby turned to see Pyrrha finishing the use of her semblance. Ruby's head shot back around just in time to see Jaune decapitating the ursa.

 _What did she do?_

 _ **She's probably a witch… we should burn her. That's what humans do right? You find a person accuse them for something completely unreasonable then kill them for it. I'm pretty sure that's right.**_

 _Oh har de har har._

"What did you do?" Ruby asked Pyrrha.

"Oh that? I just gave him the little help he needed using my semblance. Which is Polarity." Pyrrha replied.

"You can control… poles?" As she said it she could feel Weiss rolling her eyes.

 _ **Wow I knew you were stupid, but this is just pathetic.**_

"No you dolt!" Weiss cut in "that means she can control magnetism."

"Oh… eh he… I knew that. I was just… joking." Ruby said rubbing that back of her head. "Hey look it's Jaune!" Ruby called out trying to change the subject. A roughed up looking Jaune was making his way towards the group looking both ready to keel over, and like he'll start prancing around asking for praise. Pyrrha parted from the group to talk to her leader. Weiss turned to Ruby.

"Controlling poles? Really?" Weiss asked.

"It wasn't my brightest moment ok!" Ruby said trying to hide her blush. "We should probably head back. Professor Goodwitch will probably be rounding up all the students."


End file.
